Pulse Point

  Stony Man

  Ready to take on the most dangerous missions, the elite members of the Stony Man team are the world’s best black ops and cyber technicians. When the President has nowhere else to turn, these shadow warriors work under the radar on top secret White House assignments. They’re willing to sacrifice their lives to uphold freedom, save innocent lives and protect the United States from terrorism.

  Dead Zone

  From a vessel off the Hawaiian coastline, North Korea launches a test of its latest tech, a nonnuclear electronic pulse weapon, and cripples a U.S. Coast Guard station. Worried the next attack will cover a larger area and put civilians at risk, the President is determined to kill the project before the threat is realized. Phoenix Force must infiltrate North Korea and destroy the weapon facility, while Able Team flies to the Aloha State to recover the testing equipment before it falls into the wrong hands. But the North Koreans aren’t fighting fire with fire, and Stony Man must race to uncover and disengage this covert technology…before there’s another strike.

  LYONS LEVELED THE BIG REVOLVER

  Tracking the figure partly concealed by the boxes, Lyons pulled the trigger and put two of his remaining shots into the moving target. The Magnum slugs powered through the flimsy timber, filling the air with dusty splinters, then cored through the guy’s chest, toppling him in a flurry of arms and legs before his bloodied form hit the concrete.

  A strained silence followed the shots. The Able Team leader flipped out the Python’s cylinder and ejected the loads. He slipped a fresh speed-loader out of his pocket and inserted it in the cylinder. With the revolver fully loaded again, he crouch-walked away.

  He had seen two shooters still alive, so there had to be one more. Lyons accepted there might even be more who hadn’t shown themselves yet.

  Hell of a day, he thought. And it isn’t over yet.

  OTHER TITLES IN THIS SERIES:

  #63 FREEDOM WATCH

  #64 ROOTS OF TERROR

  #65 THE THIRD PROTOCOL

  #66 AXIS OF CONFLICT

  #67 ECHOES OF WAR

  #68 OUTBREAK

  #69 DAY OF DECISION

  #70 RAMROD INTERCEPT

  #71 TERMS OF CONTROL

  #72 ROLLING THUNDER

  #73 COLD OBJECTIVE

  #74 THE CHAMELEON FACTOR

  #75 SILENT ARSENAL

  #76 GATHERING STORM

  #77 FULL BLAST

  #78 MAELSTROM

  #79 PROMISE TO DEFEND

  #80 DOOMSDAY CONQUEST

  #81 SKY HAMMER

  #82 VANISHING POINT

  #83 DOOM PROPHECY

  #84 SENSOR SWEEP

  #85 HELL DAWN

  #86 OCEANS OF FIRE

  #87 EXTREME ARSENAL

  #88 STARFIRE

  #89 NEUTRON FORCE

  #90 RED FROST

  #91 CHINA CRISIS

  #92 CAPITAL OFFENSIVE

  #93 DEADLY PAYLOAD

  #94 ACT OF WAR

  #95 CRITICAL EFFECT

  #96 DARK STAR

  #97 SPLINTERED SKY

  #98 PRIMARY DIRECTIVE

  #99 SHADOW WAR

  #100 HOSTILE DAWN

  #101 DRAWPOINT

  #102 TERROR

  DESCENDING

  #103 SKY SENTINELS

  #104 EXTINCTION CRISIS

  #105 SEASON OF HARM

  #106 HIGH ASSAULT

  #107 WAR TIDES

  #108 EXTREME INSTINCT

  #109 TARGET ACQUISITION

  #110 UNIFIED ACTION

  #111 CRITICAL INTELLIGENCE

  #112 ORBITAL VELOCITY

  #113 POWER GRAB

  #114 UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE

  #115 EXTERMINATION

  #116 TERMINAL GUIDANCE

  #117 ARMED RESISTANCE

  #118 TERROR TRAIL

  #119 CLOSE QUARTERS

  #120 INCENDIARY DISPATCH

  #121 SEISMIC SURGE

  #122 CHOKE POINT

  #123 PERILOUS SKIES

  #124 NUCLEAR INTENT

  #125 COUNTER FORCE

  #126 PRECIPICE

  #127 PRODIGY EFFECT

  #128 REVOLUTION DEVICE

  Pulse Point

  Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  PROLOGUE

  Hanson was waiting in their usual meeting place, sitting at a table outside the coffee shop on Immanuelkirchstrasse. He was nursing a cup of coffee, and when he saw Trainer, he beckoned the waiter and ordered more hot drinks, then waited as his contact joined him.

  “This must be important,” Trainer said, facing Hanson across the table.

  “Your decision when I’ve told you.”

  They sat in silence until the fresh coffee had been delivered. Whenever they met, they went through the same ritual, no one committing until he was ready.

  “So?” Trainer said.

  “Two days ago Emanuel Absalom left the university, went home and was then seen leaving his apartment carrying a travel bag. He went directly to the rail station and met Pierpont. They took a train for Paris,” Hanson said. “I had people waiting at the other end.”

  “And?”

  “Absalom and Pierpont disembarked at Gare du Nord. They were met by a couple of minders. They took over for Pierpont and escorted Absalom to a waiting car that took them into the city. We picked up Pierpont and questioned him. The guy insisted all he’d done was deliver Absalom as requested. We couldn’t do anything, because Pierpont hadn’t broken any laws, and we have no legal jurisdiction over him. Trouble is, he was right. All the man had done was act as a guide to a man legally free to move where he wants.”

  Hanson lapsed into an uneasy silence, and Trainer watched him for a moment.

  “Now you’re going to tell me that your men lost them?”

  Hanson had the grace to avert his eyes. “Paris is a big city. The minders must have known they would be watched. They led our local guys on a false trail, using a double for Absalom, until they lost them on the metro. This was a well-setup run.”

  Trainer took his time drinking his coffee, placing the empty cup on the table. He stared out across the busy thoroughfare.

  “This is going to piss off Washington,” he said. “Absalom has been on their shopping list for some time.”

  “So why didn’t they make the man an offer themselves earlier?”

  “I’m just a l
owly grunt, same as you. The policy makers on the Hill work out these deals. If they’d wanted Absalom that bad, he would have already been in the USA.”

  “I raise my hand on this,” Hanson said. “He was lost on my watch. If they want to bring me home and give me a janitor’s job, okay. I could do with a change. Berlin was getting on my nerves. Same with Paris. Maybe that’s why I lost my concentration.”

  “The way this has gone down, we’ll both be pushing mops.”

  “What’s your best guess where Absalom’s gone?”

  Trainer didn’t hesitate. “I figure the North Koreans have bought him. Absalom is going to be working for them. You’ve read the internal reports. North Korea is going all out to perfect a pulse weapon, and our slippery friend Emanuel Absalom is one of the best when it comes to that kind of technology.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  FOUR MONTHS LATER—COAST GUARD STATION, HONOLULU, HAWAII

  Delroy Yates, U.S. Coast Guard Service, was crossing the strip, heading for the base main office when he glanced up, attracted by a brilliant flash of intense light over the rescue unit. As he saw the HH-65A helicopter falling out of the sky, he knew instantly there was something wrong. The 9,200-pound aircraft plunged in a dead drop and hit the concrete no more than five hundred yards from where he was standing. As the machine split apart, sending debris in all directions, Yates saw a body tossed from the shattered fuselage, hitting the ground and bouncing like a rag doll. And then flames showed around the ruptured fuel tank, as crackling electrical cabling ignited the leaking fumes. The fire spurted, falling back into the wreckage before the expanding flames blew out and up, sending a raging ball of fire into the air. One of the shattered main rotors scythed across the concrete like a deadly blade.

  As Yates began to sprint toward the crewman who had been ejected from the wreck, the fire spread along the broken helicopter. Leaking fuel pooled over the concrete, bursting into flame. Yates ignored the possible risk to himself, as he closed in on the crewman. The man was moving sluggishly, one leg of his uniform pants alight. The heat was terrific. Black smoke was curling up from the blaze, filling the sky over the base.

  Yates reached the injured crewman, dropped to one knee. He slapped at the flame on the man’s pants and extinguished it, scorching the skin of his own hands. The man’s face, bloody and badly scraped, turned in his direction. He tried to speak, but no sound came out.

  That was what alerted Yates. There was no sound behind him. He should have been hearing the howl of sirens from the fire trucks and ambulances. He glanced over his shoulder. He could see uniformed figures running toward the wreck.

  But not a vehicle was moving. He could see them parked. Not one had shifted. Yates couldn’t understand.

  The injured guy grabbed Yates’s sleeve with a bleeding hand. He moved his torn lips again, and this time his words came out.

  “...all went,” he said. “We lost power. Everything. No electricity. We were dead in the air. Nothing worked... Nothing worked...”

  Yates looked over his shoulder once more and saw figures rushing to help. Medics carrying their equipment. Uniformed firefighters.

  But no fire trucks.

  No ambulances.

  Nothing.

  All the base vehicles stood in position.

  Yates glanced up at the tracking radar unit. The scanner was not revolving. It was still.

  He felt the injured guy gripping his arm and remembered what the man had said.

  ...all went. We lost power. Everything. No electricity. We were dead in the air. Nothing worked... Nothing worked...

  * * *

  THE FULL EXTENT of the power failures was not realized until an hour later. It took that much time to establish that the loss of power covered the entire base. Everything was down that had an electrical power requirement. When circuits were checked, they had been fried—totally wiped out, from the power supply for communications to the simplest items. No radio. No television. Watches had stopped. Once this had been realized, the base commander sent out a number of personnel on bicycles with orders to locate the closest spot where the power was still on, to find a telephone and to call for help.

  In his office, conscious of the silence around him, Henry Calvin swiveled his seat around and looked out the window. Fire crews were extinguishing the burning helicopter with hand equipment. Medical personnel stood around waiting for their chance to get inside and treat any of the crew who might still be alive.

  The injured crew member, Danny Telfair, had been stretchered to the base medical center.

  Calvin looked beyond the crash site to the line of helicopters and aircraft. He was grateful no more of them had been airborne at the time of the helicopter disaster. A tap at the door brought his second in command into the office.

  “Without stating the obvious, Jim, what’s our main problem?”

  “You want the whole list?” Jim Peterson asked.

  Calvin sighed. “Tell me.”

  “Basically we’re dead in the water. No power. No communications. No aircraft. No motor vehicles. Somebody did a good job on us, sir.” Peterson ran a lean brown hand through his dark hair. “This what I think it is? An EMP strike? If it was, there was no heavy detonation above us.”

  “Or the department hasn’t been paying the power company.” Calvin allowed a bitter smile to show. “Hell, Jim, it can’t be anything else. There’s no other explanation. The signs are plain to see. EMPs are usually created from a nuclear explosion.” He paused, then added, “I did read some article on how there’s talk of creating EMPs from nonnuke sources. Maybe that’s what this was.”

  “We can’t even check to see how widespread this is,” Peterson said. “There have to be ships out at sea. If they got hit by this, they’ll be floating around helpless.”

  Calvin nodded. “Jim, get our techs working. See if they can salvage anything. We need some kind of communication network up. All base personnel need to go though our supplies. Look for anything that might be useful. How is the kitchen coping?”

  “The cooking facilities are supplied by gas, so food is no problem at the moment. Everything has to be prepared by hand. No electrical equipment working.”

  “Tell the staff to cook up what they can from the freezers, before it thaws. At least we can keep the base from starving.”

  “I’ve given orders for a search for oil-fueled lamps. We’ll need those when it gets dark. And I put a detail on seeing what they can do about repairing any battery lamps. It’s a long shot, but worth looking into.

  “This is no accident, sir. Someone deliberately targeted us. The questions are who, why, and what comes next?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  PACIFIC OCEAN

  The small wooden coastal freighter sank after some kind of powerful discharge that ripped a large hole in the top deck and below the waterline. There was an unconfirmed report that the shipboard explosion happened some minutes after launching a small object from the aft deck of the ship. Whatever was launched headed in toward the Hawaiian coastline, and there was a detonation over land at a height of just less than a quarter mile. The reported blast was more of a powerful flash than an explosion.

  The ship had been sailing beyond the Hawaiian limit, in international waters, and had not presented any kind of threat. It was a familiar sight in the area, so no one normally paid much attention to the scruffy vessel. The unexpected launch of the projectile had come as a complete surprise, and by the time a Coast Guard cutter reached the area, the vessel had sunk completely, leaving nothing but floating debris and a number of bodies.

  There were no living survivors, and the later-recovered bodies showed evidence of high-intensity burns. They were flown immediately to a hospital on the main island where the bodies were isolated.

  A Coast Guard investigation team was shortly in the area, with di
vers preparing to check out the sunken ship.

  It was reported that the area affected by the power outage extended no more than a couple miles from the Coast Guard base. There were a small number of vehicle accidents when drivers unexpectedly lost control. Cell phones and landlines ceased to function. Domestic equipment that depended on electrical power, amounting to the majority of household devices, all quit, as well.

  For the people inside the affected area, the dead zone, it was a frightening time. It was as if they had been cut off from the rest of the country. There was little they could do except wait for the arrival of functioning vehicles and rescue services from still-working areas.

  If the incident had been designed to prove a point, it had worked.

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE WHITE HOUSE

  Hal Brognola sat facing the President of the United States and waited for the Man to speak. The call from the President had been urgent, so Brognola had dropped everything and made it to the White House on the double. He had been escorted to the Oval Office and left alone with the Man. The President had poured coffee for them both, then sat down facing Brognola across his desk.

  “I guess this is Stony Man urgent, sir?”

  The President nodded. “I can see why they gave you the top job,” he said. “Never miss a trick.”

  Brognola smiled.

  The President tapped a blue folder on his desk.

  “This was brought to my attention two hours ago. As soon as I read it, I had to bring you in because of possible threats to U.S. security in Hawaii and, by default, the rest of the country.” The President passed over the file. “I don’t know how familiar you are with EMP development, Hal, but it looks like we’ve just had a taster on how serious it can be.

  “As well as data on the Hawaii incident, there is also input from a South Korean agent working inside NK about their pulse weapon development. Not the first time we’ve had concerns. This undercover agent has his own source working inside the research establishment in North Korea. Last report he received said the North Koreans were about to launch a test of their equipment.

  “It’s too much of a coincidence that Hawaii comes under attack following that report. And we are aware that Hawaii could be a prime target of unfriendly powers in the area because of our involvement in the Pacific. We have too much invested in the region to allow complacency to hold us back.”